Lynn Abbey - Realms of the Deep

He was still constrained by the harness, and he could feel the gentle rise and fall of the pegasus's breathing as he pressed against the creature's side. It felt so real it was hard to believe it was the product of magical conjuration.

The animal shook its head and trotted briskly out of the pool until the water rose only to its chest and Thraxos was still partially immersed. He felt refreshed and laughed aloud with pleasure.

The girl, sitting idly by the water's side, laughed with him. He looked at her with new respect and asked, "What's your name, girl?"

"Amelia. What's yours?"

"Thraxos, of the merfblk of Waterdeep."

She nodded, absorbing this information.

"How far have we come, Ariella?"

She shook her head briskly and said, "I don't know. Before we came down I saw a big forest… over there." She gestured vaguely to the right. "I don't know how far away it is. I think we've come an awfully long way, but not as far as we need to go because I haven't seen the sea anywhere, but if I look behind us I can't see the sea either so there must be a lot of land between the sea and the sea, don't you think?"

Thraxos's headache, which had disappeared while he was beneath the water, showed signs of reappearing. He twisted around in the harness and splashed water on his face and shoulders. The girl chattered heedlessly on for a few more minutes before suddenly turning businesslike.

"Well, we'd better go on."

Once again they rose into the air and soared over Faerun. Thraxos found that time did not reconcile him to the experience of being out of water. Again, after an hour or so they descended, this time on the shore of a small lake. This time Thraxos insisted the girl release him from the harness, and for half an hour he swam around in the water, loosening his stiffened limbs. The girl seemed oddly impatient, and at times seemed almost frantic when Thraxos delayed as long as possible resuming his position in the restraining harness.

The odd group continued their journey in the same manner, rising and falling with the air currents. The sun, which had been rising in the east when they began their traveling together, reached its zenith, then set slowly in the west. They set down about every hour, though once or twice they flew longer. On these occasions Thraxos felt sick and dizzy and spent longer in the pools of water in order to recover.

Night fell, and they flew in utter darkness. They had traveled for about an hour and Thraxos felt the familiar sinking in his stomach that told of descent. His discomfort was, as usual, mixed with anticipation for the water, though the travails of the journey had eased somewhat since sunset.:

Lower and lower they drifted, and the wings of the pegasus seemed to beat more gently against the soft night breezes. Then, suddenly, Thraxos felt the familiar warmth of the horse's flank vanish. The next moment he realized he was tumbling end over end through the air. He had a moment of gut-wrenching panic before he plunged into water.

The pool was extremely shallow, more so than any they'd encountered. Fortunately, Thraxos had fallen only a dozen feet, but even so the sudden impact knocked his breath from him. He rolled in the mud at the bottom of the pool, breathing in the life-restoring water, then surfaced quickly.

"Ariella!" he called.

There was silence, broken by a rustling, then a small voice called out, Thraxos?"

"I'm here. What happened?"

More rustling, then by the dim starlight he saw a tiny figure emerge from the bushes into which it had fallen. The girl's face was dirtier than ever, and there seemed to be several long scratches along her forehead, but Thraxos saw with a surge of relief that startled him with its intensity that she seemed otherwise unhurt.

"What happened?" he asked.

She snuffled a few moments, then replied, "Freyala went away."

"Went away? What do you mean? How could she fly away from under us?"

"She didn't fly away," Ariella said impatiently. "She just went away. They all do."

Thraxos shook his head in an effort to clear it. "What do you mean?"

"They all go away after a day."

Thraxos sighed. Things had obviously been going too well to last. He should have realized that a magical mount would have only a limited span of existence.

"Can you conjure her back?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yes, but let's rest a while here. Besides, I'm hungry. I'm going to look for some food."

Thraxos glanced around. As far as he could tell they were on some sort of plateau. Before them the land fell away to an unguessable depth. The forest lands had given way to bare rock and scrub, with little shelter.

"What sort of things do you expect to find here?" he asked.

"I don't know," she answered. "I think there might be some wild strawberries back there. I smelled something like that when I fell in the bushes." She giggled despite herself.

Thraxos shook his head. "I don't think you should g wandering around in the dark. We're better off contii uing the journey."

"I'm hungry." Her voice turned sulky and petulan She rose from where she had crouched to convers with the merman and walked back into the shadows.

"Ariella!" Thraxos shouted. "Don't do that! I… forbid it! It's dangerous…"

There was no reply.

"Ariella!"

Still silence. Thraxos cursed softly to himsel Human children were obviously no easier to deal wit than the children of merfolk.

A sudden squeal rent the stillness of the night, an a bright torch suddenly flared. Thraxos shielded hi eyes from the vision-obscuring flame. When he dare glance in its direction, he saw Ariella scamperin toward him. Behind her, over a low crest, came thre hulking figures. One carried a flaming brand, and aj three wielded clubs. They were clad in ragged gai ments, and their faces, low-browed and brutal, wer crisscrossed with scars. Drool dripped in streams fror yellowing tusks.

Ogres.

Ariella dodged behind the pool that shelterei Thraxos, while the ogres stared greedily at her. The; charged forward. Two skirted the pool, chasing he around it. The third stalked straight into the watei None of them seemed to notice Thraxos, his head alom protruding from the water.

The brute in the pool was allowing his club to drai in the water. Thraxos reached up unseen as the erea ture passed and snatched the club from its hands.

"Urgh?*

The ogre stared vaguely up in the air and all around, evidently convinced its weapon had been taken by some spirit of the air. Thraxos rose as high as possible and swung the club against the creature's knee with all his strength.

The ogre dropped into the pool with an enormous splash and thrashed about, howling and clutching its broken kneecap. Thraxos struck again at its head, but only grazed it. The monster seized the merman by the throat and squeezed, pain giving force to its grip.

The world swam before Thraxos. The night filled with colors, and he heard a loud roaring. Before his eyes he saw the horrid face of the ogre fade in and out af focus. In desperation, he brought up the slender end›f the club and jabbed it-at the monster's eye.

The ogre dropped the merman and fell back shrieking, covering its face with its hands. Streams of blood ran down its body and flowed into the pool. Thraxos swung the club again, and the screams stopped abruptly. The ogre fell, half in and half out of the pool.

Thraxos looked around for Ariella. She had taken shelter behind a small scrubby tree and was dodging around it as the two monsters slowly pursued her. Her slight build and speed had saved her thus far, but Thraxos knew the chase could only end in one way.

He cast desperately about for a plan. He shouted, hoping to attract the attention of the ogres, but they ignored him, intent on their smaller, more vulnerable prey. If they had seen their companion fall, they gave no sign of caring.